ON TAP
UND returns home for a brief two-game home stand, hosting Sacramento State and Northern Arizona as North Dakota looks to snap a four-game slide. North Dakota will reach the midway point of the Big Sky Conference season following Saturday’s game as the teams battle for positioning in preparation for the seven-team postseason league tournament.

LAST WEEK
North Dakota led both games by double digits but the home teams were able to pull out close victories at Eastern Washington and Portand State last week. UND had an 11-point second-half advantage taken away against the Eagles Thursday before the Vikings rallied from 10 down in the opening frame to take a 73-66 win Saturday.

SERIES HISTORY... SACRAMENTO STATE
First meeting between the teams.

SERIES HISTORY... NORTHERN ARIZONA
*North Dakota leads the all-time series, 2-0
*UND won in back-to-back years in 2008 and 2009 in a home-and-home series
*UND earned a 69-55 win at the Betty on Dec. 18, 2009 in the last meeting.

SCOUTING THE HORNETS (9-7, 4-3 Big Sky)
Sacramento State brings the top scoring offense into Thursday’s tilt, averaging a league-best 72.1 points per contest ... Defensively, the Hornets’ 6.2 blocks per game rank second in all of NCAA Division I heading into the week ... The Hornets also rank nationally in steals at 12.6 per game, 13th-most in the country ... The Hornets claim the top rebounder, assist-getter and shot-blocker in the league ... Kylie Kuhns leads the Big Sky in rebounding (11.1 rpg) and is 16th in the NCAA in that category ... Fantasia Hilliard’s 6.8 assists average is 11th in the nation and Megan Kritscher is second in D1 in blocks (4.06 per game).

SCOUTING THE LUMBERJACKS (4-12, 3-4)
NAU claims the highest field goal percentage in the Big Sky Conference with a 41.6 percent clip ... Amy Patton is the leading scorer in the conference with a 19.8 points per game average which ranks 20th in NCAA Division I ... Patton also adds the third-best rebounding average in the conference with an 8.4 rpg average ... Paige Haynes’ 4.8 assists per game clip is second in the league ... NAU started the season 1-10, but have won three of five since then, started by a 10-point win at Southern Utah on Jan. 3.

“LAUCK” DOWN ON DEFENSE
Junior Megan Lauck generated a career-most seven steals in Saturday’s game at Portland State. She now leads the team in thefts this season with 30 (1.8 per game).

HIGH FIVE
Lauck, a game earlier, tripled five times at Eastern Washington for a new career high. The junior guard recorded 21 points to become the second UND player to reach that plateau this season (Madi Buck- 21 at North Dakota State)

TRIPLE DIGIT TRIPLES
Senior Nicole Smart reached a career milestone in Thursday’s game at Eastern Washington. The Ada, Minn. native recorded her 100th career three-pointer with a make from the left corner. Nearly half of Smart’s career points (635) come from the beyond the three-point line.

“THIS ONE GOES TO ELEVEN”
Junior Madi Buck leads North Dakota with her 11.0 points per game average heading into this weekend. Buck has scored in double figures 11 times this season and has been UND’s leading scorer five times in 2012-13.

BUCK STARTS HERE
Junior forward Madi Buck was recognized as the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week Jan. 2 for her performance in UND’s 62-56 upset win at Utah Dec. 29. The Bismarck, N.D. native scored a team-high 18 points and grabbed six rebounds to go along with a career-high five blocked shots in the win. She became the second North Dakota player to earn the award after Emily Evers grabbed honors earlier in the season.

“CENTER” OF ATTENTION
Sophomore center Emily Evers was named co-Big Sky Conference Player of the Week Dec. 10. Evers broke out in the win over Air Force last Tuesday by establishing new career bests with 17 points and 15 rebounds in the blowout victory over the Falcons. She also added two assists and a pair of blocks in just 14 minutes of action. She followed that performance with another 17-point effort in Saturday’s overtime win against Drake. She notched yet another double-double-- her third of her career-- with 10 rebounds as well. Evers chipped-in four blocks and two steals and sealed the win in the final second of overtime with a free throw make.

UND’s OVERTIME OVER TIME
Before its Dec. 8 win over Drake, North Dakota had not played in an overtime contest since a 81-79 win at South Dakota back on Jan. 13, 2007. With the win over the Bulldogs, UND extended its overtime winning streak to three straight with its last loss in an overtime game a Mar. 15, 2004 defeat in the NCAA Division II North Central Regional Final against South Dakota State (72-70). All time, UND is now 14-9 in games decided in extra frames, including a perfect 3-0 mark when it goes beyond one extra period.

A BIT ABOUT LAST SEASON (21-11)
The University of North Dakota women’s basketball team picked up the Great West Conference regular-season and postseason tournament titles, winning nine straight games to finish 9-1 in league play ... Center Allyssa Wall (North Sioux City, S.D.) was named to the GWC All-Tournament team and was voted the tournament’s most valuable player ... Also named to the all-tournament team was center Emily Evers (Grand Forks, N.D.), who averaged a team-high 13.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, and shot 74.4 percent from the field ... UND advanced to its first-ever NCAA Division I postseason play, heading to Seattle University for the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI).

RECORD REWIND
The University of North Dakota women’s basketball program holds an 811-319 (.718) record all-time since the first game was played in 1974.

OPEN SEASON
The season-opening loss to Harvard pushed UND’s record in season openers to 29-8 all-time. North Dakota is now 19-5 in season openers at home, including losses each of the past two seasons.

NO CUPCAKES
The home opener is the start of a very challenging part of UND’s schedule. Each of the first four opponents qualified for a postseason tournament a season ago. In addition, only one of those games is at home for UND (vs. Harvard). Iowa State went to the NCAA Tournament while Harvard, Duquesne and South Florida all competed in the WNIT.

PROTECT AND SERVE
All-time, North Dakota is 442-89 (.832) when it comes to defending its own court. The team played at the UND Fieldhouse/Hyslop Sports Center before moving into its current home at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in 2004-05.

YOU BETTY, YOU BETTY, YOU BET!
North Dakota is 108-20 (.844) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which opened prior to the 2004-05 season.

UND FIFTH, SIXTH IN BIG SKY POLLS
UND was picked to finish fifth by the media and sixth by the coaches in the 2012-13 Big Sky Conference preseason polls. After three seasons in the Great West Conference following its move to NCAA Division I, UND enters its first season in the league.

The top four spots were identical in both polls with Idaho State, the defending Big Sky regular season and tournament champion, grabbing the top position. Northern Colorado was the runner-up with Montana and Montana State slotted third and fourth, respectively, in both polls.

2012-13 SCHEDULE
This year’s slate includes 16 total home games (two exhibitions),10 games against postseason teams (NCAA- Idaho State (2), Iowa State; WNIT- No. Colorado (2), Drake, Duquesne, Harvard, South Florida, Utah), a re-kindling of the North Dakota State rivalry and the inaugural season of the Big Sky Conference. UND will play each Big Sky foe twice in home-and-home contests to make up 20 of North Dakota’s games this season.

BIG SKY TV
Catch all home games and all conference road games live for FREE on the internet, thanks to Big Sky TV. The free video webstream is available by logging onto bigskyconf.com and clicking on the Big Sky TV button.

FOLLOW UND ON IHEART RADIO
Take North Dakota women’s basketball with you wherever you go with KSNR 100.3 FM (CatCountry) on the iheartradio app. Download it to your computer or your smart phone.

CAN I GET A WIGNESS?
Select North Dakota women’s basketball games — home and away — can be heard live on CatCountry 100.3 FM (away) and KKXL 1440 AM (away) with Mitch Wigness handling the play-by-play ... The radio broadcast can also be accessed via a live audiocast on UNDSports.com (Check the website for schedule changes and updates) ... Links for live stats, a live radio audiocast, live chat, and streaming video can be found on the official site of North Dakota athletics, UNDSports.com.

UND GONE MOBILE
The University of North Dakota athletics department and leading technology service provider NeuLion, Inc. (TSX: NLN) have launched UND’s official athletics mobile website, UNDSports.com. The new UND athletics destination offers a mobile device-enabled version of the site, amplifying the user experience on the go. The mobile website will deliver a condensed version of the official athletics site to provide latest news and quick updates to handheld devices. North Dakota’s official athletics website is available on all web-enabled devices by opening a browser and entering the UNDSports.com URL. Users can get the latest news, scores, upcoming schedule, photo galleries and more.

UND ON THE INTERNET
UNDSports.com is the official online home of University of North Dakota athletics. UNDSports.com is a veritable one-stop shop for the most hardcore fan, featuring breaking news, feature stories, game notes, live and archived video webcasts, FREE audio, FREE live stats, podcasts, blogs, player profiles, merchandise, photo galleries, news feeds, camp registration and much, much more.

“DYER” STRAITS
UND got a boost over the semester break, announcing a big addition to its roster. Makailah Dyer will be joining the squad after transferring from the University of Wisconsin. Dyer is the cousin of current UND men’s basketball player Troy Huff. She was a two-time Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association all-state honoree as a prep. She also earned 2011 Second Team All-State honors by the Associated Press for Coach James Adams at Madison East High School, averaging 24.6 points per game as a senior, ranking second in the state. She racked-up 1,517 points (18.7 ppg) in her prep career and was a three-time all-area and all-conference selection.